10Kh was the designation for the initial series of

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

pulse jet engine In medicine, the pulse refers to the rhythmic pulsations (expansion and contraction) of an artery in response to the cardiac cycle (heartbeat). The pulse may be felt (palpated) in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface ...

powered

air-launched cruise missile An air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) is a cruise missile that is launched from a military aircraft. Current versions are typically standoff weapons which are used to attack predetermined land and naval targets with conventional weapon, conventio ...

s, reverse engineered from the

Fieseler Fi 103 The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...

(V-1) flying bomb, developed in the 1950s by

OKB-52 NPO Mashinostroyeniya () is a rocket design bureau based in Reutov, Russia. During the Cold War it was responsible for several major weapons systems, including the UR-100N Intercontinental ballistic missile and the military Almaz space station ...

under the leadership of Vladimir Nikolaevič Čelomej (Chelomey) and cancelled in the same decade.

History

Reports of the German

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...

attacks on

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

prompted

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

to initiate a programme to develop a Soviet equivalent, commencing in June 1944.

Vladimir Chelomey Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomey or Chelomei (, ; 30 June 1914 – 8 December 1984) was a Soviet people, Soviet engineer and designer in the missile program of the former Soviet Union. He invented the first Soviet Pulsejet, pulse jet engine and w ...

, who had been working on

pulse jet file:Pulse Jet Engine.PNG, 300px, Diagram of a valved pulsejet. 1 - Air enters through valve and is mixed with fuel. 2 - The mixture is ignited, expands, closes the valve and exits through the tailpipe, creating thrust.3 - Low pressure in the engi ...

engines, was assigned to the project in October 1944 and given control of OKB-52. The programme was assisted by the partial recovery of a V-1 by Soviet forces at the Blizna test range in Poland. The initial V-1 copy was called 10Kh and later ''Izdeliye 10'' ("Article 10"). Serial production was scheduled to commence in March 1945 with 100 per month, increasing to 450 per month later that year. By the end of 1944 the development of the D-3 pulse engine that propelled the 10Kh was at the prototype stage and the first production 10Kh was ready on 5 February 1945. As no launching ramps had been constructed, the first test was an air launch from a

Petlyakov Pe-8 The Petlyakov Pe-8 () was a Soviet heavy bomber designed before World War II, and the only four-engine bomber the USSR built during the war. Produced in limited numbers, it was used to bomb Berlin in August 1941. It was also used for so-called " ...

heavy bomber on 20 March 1945, near

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

. By 25 July, 66 missiles had been launched, of which 44 transitioned to autonomous flight, 22 of these reaching the range target and 20 maintaining the required heading. A batch of improved 10Kh (''Izdeliye 30'') were constructed with wooden wings, and 73 more air launches were performed in December 1948. A ground-launched variant called the 10KhN was also tested in 1948, which used rocket-assisted take-off from a ramp. The purpose of the first tests was to determine the feasibility of dropping the 10Kh missile from an aircraft in flight and ignite the pulse jet about below the mother-ship, but only six out of 22 missiles did so correctly. The second, more successful series of tests, achieved a success rate of 12 out of the 22 launched. The final tests were conducted to determine precision and effectiveness; six of 18 missiles launched impacted the target, and three detonated successfully, from four launched to determine effectiveness.

Variants

;10Kh :The initial production version of the V-1

reverse engineered Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompl ...

look-alike, powered by a single Chelomey D-3, reverse engineered

Argus As014 The Argus As 014 (designated 109-014 by the RLM) was a pulsejet engine used on the German V-1 flying bomb of World War II, and the first model of pulsejet engine placed in mass production. License manufacture of the As 014 was carried out in Ja ...

engine. ;10Kh ''Izdeliye 30'' :An improved version with wooden wings. ;10KhN :A ground-launched version using rocket-assisted take-off gear to boost the missile up a launch ramp. ;14Kh :A further development with revised wings of several configurations and structural material, powered by a single Chelomey D-5 engine. ;14KhK1 :A sub-version of the Kh14 powered by a single

Chelomey D-6 Chelomey may refer to: * 8608 Chelomey, main-belt asteroid * Vladimir Chelomey Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomey or Chelomei (, ; 30 June 1914 – 8 December 1984) was a Soviet people, Soviet engineer and designer in the missile program of the fo ...

. ;15Kh :A ship launched version. ;16Kh :Experimental missiles using Kh10 airframes with single

engines, later tested with two Chelomey D-3 engines mounted side by side on V-configured pylons on the aft fuselage and extended tailplanes with rectangular fins and rudders at the tailplane tips. ;17Kh :A ship launched version. ;18Kh :A further development of the 10Kh series of cruise missiles. ;A gliding bomb :An un-powered gliding bomb was also derived from the 10Kh featuring a twin tail similar to the 16Kh in addition to a central fin, as well as a jettison-able undercarriage.

References

{{Russian and Soviet missiles Cruise missiles of the Cold War Cruise missiles of the Soviet Union Cold War missiles of the Soviet Union NPO Mashinostroyeniya products